Churches, temples to be protected from land mafia with new bill
The Sindh provincial government has moved a step closer to ensuring minority places of worship are protected from the tentacles of the “land mafia”.
“Religious buildings are only supposed to be used for religious purposes,” said
MPA Saleem Khokhar on Monday. “Anyone found violating the [proposed] law could be sent to prison for seven years and slapped with a fine.” If all goes well, the Protection of Religious Minorities Properties Act 2012 would be ready this week.
The Sindh Assembly’s standing committee on local government met on Monday. Minority representatives and law officials attended. The committee’s chairman, Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Munawar Ali Abbasi, urged the authorities to close any loopholes so the bill could be ready for a vote.
Khokhar, who is the chairman of the standing committee on minority affairs, said that the bill would prohibit people from illegally taking control of buildings such as temples, churches and gurdwaras and turning them into commercial establishments. Karachi alone has about 500 churches.
Hostels, seminaries and other religious and recreational properties that belong to minorities would be given protection as well.
With the passing of the bill, matters pertaining to those houses of worship, which are embedded controversies or have been taken over illegally would hopefully be resolved.
In Karachi, for example, one such house of worship is St Andrew’s Church in Saddar. For the past several months, two Christian groups have accused one another of encroaching on free land around it. They have accused one another of using the property for commercial purposes such as setting up shops.
On the other hand, cases against land grabbing on the premises of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) have been highlighted. Land grabbers have illegally encroached on the YMCA sports ground, converting it into a wedding lawn and parking space.
In Soldier Bazaar, the ancient Shri Panchmukhi Hanuman Mandir continues to face illegal construction. Encroachers have taken over half of its 2,609 square feet plot, drawing boundaries walls and building illegally.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2012.
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The law should include protection for land of school, colleges and universities.
Good. I hope nobody misuses this one....
This is the high time Pakistan should protect the religious sites of minorities.Minorities in Pakistan love their country as much as Majority community.They consider this their homeland.Then why this discrimination.
Finish target killing from it`s root in Karachi then look-of the temples and churches. Resolve the fear of peoples not Buildings.
Do you have anyone left to worship ? How about protecting people .. By the way that church is a masterpiece.
in my last vacation in pakistan, i spend in lahore, my cousin showed me an old hindu temle, which is now converted into a market now, it is situated somewhere near new garden town!, i wondered it can be a historical site, but no one is there to take control over. :(
It is rather too late to protect churches and temples. Hundreds, if not thousands, have been destroyed over the past six plus decades. During 2002 Gujarat riots, dozens of temples in Pakistan and Bangladesh were destroyed as part of reprisal attacks.
Protect the minority citizens first. Churches and temples can be rebuilt.
and what about protecting lands of ordinary citizen? Sindh govt proposed this law; right MQM+PPP+ANP? ..to protect from land mafias? Gimme a break who are they trying to fool here?!